A bit of of info some might find helpful that I see people not noticing in various boards. If you can capture an enemy, when you select your unit with the arc thrower the enemy will have a ring around it showing the radius you need to be in to capture it. Some aliens can not be captured, and as such will not display the ring, in other words don't try to capture that Chryssalid!

This reminds me, does it make more sense for one particular type of class to use the arc thrower? Or should you just give one to everybody in a given squad? And if you already researched, say, one captured Thin Man, is there any reason to keep capturing that instead of killing that type after that?

An aside - so I take there's not really any way to improve the conventional weaponry, since the whole idea is you have to start using alien tech to improve? I thought maybe you'd be able to research "plasma bullets" or something, that maybe some sort of "hybrid weapons tree" would be neat.

I use the support class with the three extra tile movement perk so I can hang back just a bit then move in for the stun from better cover.

Just started using lasers and no overheating yet, I do see they have to be reloaded often with the heavy laser only getting 3-4 shots per mag.

I imagine Cpl Zinfan is tasked with running up and shocking X-Rays in Kato's universe, hmm may need to bring along some GT rookies soon to see who has the right stuff. Blackjack may live to die another day!

You nailed it. You have a high survival rate, since I usually use the disarm skill on the X-ray you're about to rush and stun. I'm really not sure if I can send you against a Muton....yet.

Ohh nice tactics, I have yet to use disarm but that makes so much sense and I'll use it next tie.

Missing those high percentage shots are painful (85% and up) but having some clutch shots (low 20% and below) from your veteran XCOM teams is bliss. Loving this game. Normal difficulty iron man mode is the sweet spot for me. If I win this game, I'll move up to Classic but with saves enabled

Sure, send the old guy out ahead to scout. He probably died from a heart attack when the first chryssalid came into view and you left his body behind. Well, the joke's on you, he had the key in his pocket to the liquor cabinet back in the barracks. Not that there was much left in the liquor cabinet

Sure, send the old guy out ahead to scout. He probably died from a heart attack when the first chryssalid came into view and you left his body behind. Well, the joke's on you, he had the key in his pocket to the liquor cabinet back in the barracks. Not that there was much left in the liquor cabinet

Sorry JZ you fell in the 2nd or 3rd mission, before I knew about exploding cars

After the Steam update I've started using the mouse/keyboard controls instead of the 360 controller and it seems to be a bit smoother. I do have one question: the "z" key is supposed to be "Camera Toggle Zoom Level" but I'm not sure what that does. Pressing it doesn't seem to affect anything. What am I missing?

Missing those high percentage shots are painful (85% and up) but having some clutch shots (low 20% and below) from your veteran XCOM teams is bliss. Loving this game. Normal difficulty iron man mode is the sweet spot for me. If I win this game, I'll move up to Classic but with saves enabled

And for anyone else who, like me, hates seeing the long intro logos and everything, it's also easily changed.Go to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XComGame\Config And find the file [DefaultEngine.ini] . Find a header called: PC Startup movies and delete those four lines under it. Removes ALL of the startup logos and instantly goes to the main menu.

you can also put a ; in front of the lines if you're not comfortable with removing them (or think you're going to want back that Firaxis logo at some point ), like so:

It seems the patch reset this. So far lots of fun. It seems like the difficulty is ramping up quickly, so every research decision feels that much more important. I wanted to get a full game under my belt before customizing squaddies with people I know. Don't worry. Soon you will all suffer under my command. Virtually anyway.

After I finished up writing a review for another game I've been playing, I finally got to sink some time into it. Holy crap, this game is hard. But in the best way possible. Every victory feels earned, and just when I feel like I'm starting to get a grip on my resources and tactics, they keep throwing curveballs at me to keep me on my toes (****ing Chryssalids. Nothing's worse than feeling like you're about to finish up a rescue mission, then having a bunch of them drop in, turn survivors into zombies and rush you.). I'm loving the meta-game surrounding all the tactics, but I wish it were easier to earn resources to build stuff. But I guess that just comes with the territory. Expect a full review in a few days time, though I'm sure you guys all know how great it is already.

So add this to the little known mechanics section, but I think one of the many benefits of capturing live aliens (even after you've already done an interrogation) is that not only do you get his gun, but you also get more alien alloys, and other resources intact after the mission is over.

Getting their guns is actually really important since you only have so much alien alloys, which is used for everything, including research. So you don't have much to spare after weapons and armor research.

For convenience sake, it's sometimes better to manufacture a little more than you need of an item. This is because the only time a soldier's inventory is automatically cleared is when he is injured, and the system will try to put back his gear when he gets back. This can leave you with 1 less available of an item than you need, and to fix it you have to go hunting around the barracks for whoever still has it, switch them to something else, and move on. Not a good idea since resources are so tight, but I've done it to avoid annoyance.

Honestly, I wish they cleared the inventories of anyone not actively on the squad.

Honestly, I wish they cleared the inventories of anyone not actively on the squad.

Amen to that. Or give me a button which will clear all gear from all soldiers so I can pick and choose.

What are these Second Wave options I saw mentioned by TiLT? Do you have to successfully complete the game (IE win the campaign) to unlock them, or are they also unlocked if I lose (it's a tossup right now)?

Can someone confirm that there is no way to pick the initial upgrade path of your soldiers? Seems odd to me that you don't get to pick. Is it just random?

It's random with some waited balancing to try and fill out empty/low classes. So if you have 4 assaults and zero supports you should start getting supports over assaults. They talk about the reasoning for it being random in one of the videos somewhere, it's because part of what they are going for with the game is having the player have to deal with the hand they are dealt and making the best of it.

Can someone confirm that there is no way to pick the initial upgrade path of your soldiers? Seems odd to me that you don't get to pick. Is it just random?

What kind of mix are you guys seeing? Man oh man, I'm inundated with guys becoming Snipers (I have 6 at last count). I just lost one of my two Heavies in a mission last night, and one of my support guys is out for 2 weeks due to injuries. So it's like I'm being forced mostly to use multiple snipers, or a couple snipers backed up by rookies. I gave one sniper the "pistol damage buff" cause I may have to start using some as "pistol specialists."

btw, twice yesterday after putting a sniper in pistol-overwatch, I mistakenly used the pistol the next turn instead of the sniper rifle. Why can't Firaxis protect me from my own stupidity?

I had no idea building a satellite takes 20 days (I assume I need more engineers). My base is over in Asia, and it looks like U.S./Canada is fully panicked and about to split. I'm "panicked" about that, but I don't see any easy way (that I can afford or have the resources to do yet) to fix that, and don't think the satellite(s) will get completed in time to help that.============

This reminds me -- I posted years ago wishing Big Time Software would update its old "Over the Reich" and "Achtung Spitfire!" turn-based aerial combat (sort of "squad with fighter planes" tactical). I hoped maybe GoG would pick them up, as they weren't even XP compatible. I remember in that how your favorite Ace pilot might get wounded and be out of action for a while, or some guys would develop into crackshots and then break your heart when they died.

So if this game (still topping Steam's sales chart ahead of Dishonored and Borderlands 2 last time I checked) starts any sort of turn-based tactical renaissance, please let OTR and AS somehow get in the mix.

They do if carried by someone who gets killed with one of the Second Wave options active, but that's all I can think of.

Has anyone confirmed that the Second Wave options are actually in the game? I seem to recall reading somewhere that they finished the game but didn't see any additional options.

Some Googling suggested Second Wave was some various options people saw in .ini files for the demo (little tweak options to make the campaign longer, or make certain aspects more difficult, etc.), but the posts I saw suggested there is no such thing in the actual game options after completing the campaign.

It might've been just for testing, or perhaps it's some initial "hooks" for different modes Firaxis might consider adding later on. Or maybe they just put them there to drive gamers crazy. What is it??? What does it all mean? Is it an Alien/Firaxis conspiracy???? Is Jake Solomon actually a Chrysalid who's electronically impregnated us all with Sid Meier baby psychic zombies via digital distribution of XCOM?

So I lost my Soulchilde last night to a fluke Floater crit. Which is absolute bullshit, since everyone knows the only way Soulchilde should ever die in a video game is from Lockdown friendly fire.

The funny thing is just how mad I was when it happened. I mean, like really mad. This game is pretty awesome that it can evoke feelings like that from players. I remember getting attached to my guys in the original, but I don't remember it being like this. In a really nerdy way, that is a great thing. Destructor, Kato, and AA are still kicking though - albeit taking turns warming hospital beds. Man alive am I glad they don't charge hospital bills against your income. I'd be in some serious trouble financially.

Logged

LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

So I lost my Soulchilde last night to a fluke Floater crit. Which is absolute bullshit, since everyone knows the only way Soulchilde should ever die in a video game is from Lockdown friendly fire.

The funny thing is just how mad I was when it happened. I mean, like really mad. This game is pretty awesome that it can evoke feelings like that from players. I remember getting attached to my guys in the original, but I don't remember it being like this. In a really nerdy way, that is a great thing. Destructor, Kato, and AA are still kicking though - albeit taking turns warming hospital beds. Man alive am I glad they don't charge hospital bills against your income. I'd be in some serious trouble financially.

+1Personalizing the game with people you know makes a big difference IMHO. Also Iron Man mode makes everything more intense.

That's so true. My squad has family members in the ranks. I'm much more careful about keeping them alive. I don't let my young kids watch, but they like to know how their guys are doing in the game. My older elementary school age boy actually gets anxious when I take his guy on missions. I tell him not to worry, there's always a chance he will survive the mission. I felt terrible losing my rookie 2 1/2 year old son because I parked him next to a flaming car. He didn't even last one mission. That was a tough lesson learned.

My 4 1/2 year old daughter just joined the team as a rookie. I feel sorry for the aliens. They have no idea what they will be dealing with. She has a psionic screech attack that stuns and melts brains.

So I lost my Soulchilde last night to a fluke Floater crit. Which is absolute bullshit, since everyone knows the only way Soulchilde should ever die in a video game is from Lockdown friendly fire.

The funny thing is just how mad I was when it happened. I mean, like really mad. This game is pretty awesome that it can evoke feelings like that from players. I remember getting attached to my guys in the original, but I don't remember it being like this. In a really nerdy way, that is a great thing. Destructor, Kato, and AA are still kicking though - albeit taking turns warming hospital beds. Man alive am I glad they don't charge hospital bills against your income. I'd be in some serious trouble financially.

+1Personalizing the game with people you know makes a big difference IMHO. Also Iron Man mode makes everything more intense.

Very tempted to restart the game using Normal difficulty and Ironman enabled. I will also use personalized troops if I do that. Dang it I'm off to do that now, who will go on the first mission? CK? Hark? Kato? BlackJack? JarrodHK? Roguetad? Heck why not Zinfan as the leading support guy? Lets find out!

My only member carrying a med-pack went down. No one could help her even though the med-pack was right there in her pack. I understand not swapping items, but not being able to use it doesn't make sense.

I'm getting a little bit of a nostalgic flashback to Blue Byte's Incubation too. I loved that game. It was kick you in the nuts hard too, but fun. I hope this game sells well...or well enough to encourage more turn based strategy goodness.

I'm getting a little bit of a nostalgic flashback to Blue Byte's Incubation too. I loved that game. It was kick you in the nuts hard too, but fun. I hope this game sells well...or well enough to encourage more turn based strategy goodness.

Hah, yes -- I was crazy enough about Incubation (1997) to run a crudely done fan web site on it for years (Geo's Incubation Site) and set up an Incubation 2 petition.

It lacked X-COM's layers (base, research etc.), so I tended to squirm when people called it "X-COM meets Quake" because it wouldn't live up to that type of comparison. But the TB combat was very gruesome and visceral, and it had flamethrowers that were really critical to strategy (blocking areas, etc.). Some players complained the mission maps were "too puzzledly" and not open enough. I can't really disagree, but quite loved it anyway. It also had both co-op and PVP online play (modem-to-modem, if I recall), though it was a bit much for the dialups many of us were using then.

The Blue Byte devs were very nice (including producer Wolfgang Walk), corresponded with me via e-mail and a simple Incubation forum I ran. They even sent me a free copy of the Wilderness Missions expansion when it came out.

It didn't sell terribly well though, and Blue Byte decided to focus mostly on its Settlers games thereafter, I think, and is now part of Ubisoft.=============================

Does anyone know how soon after the "panic meter goes full," that a country resigns from XCOM? I know I'm about to lose U.S. and Canada in my Iron Man/Normal game. The satellite (construction completion) I need to calm things down is a good 18 days away. I guess my only hope is to get a mission in that region soon.

Is there a in game screenshot ability? Love to show the roster and the forthcoming carnage. If not what are you guys using for screenshots?

First mission Normal/Ironman and everyone came back alive but Otis Soulchilde is in hospital for the next 6 days. Blackjack got two kills and is now assault class, Lockdown got the other two X-Rays and is a sniper. Soulchilde took one for the team dashing out of cover but got no kills and neither did Ralph Wiggum so both await class assignments. Various other recruits await their turn in the meat grinder. Must be an in game thing but one of my recruits was from Scotland and named Ewan Mcgregor so I left him as is.

Just raided the biggest damn UFO I've ever seen. No losses but every squad member is injured and out for half a month. My engineers will have to build a couple SHIV's to fill out the backup team.

Okay, you seriously need the Barracks upgrade of, "Healing is now twice as fast" or something. Also, the Foundry? Very, very important.

I was in a weird point of XCOM for a while - I had nothing I could research because I didn't have Weapon Shards. Yes, that's right - I needed to kill more aliens (instead of capturing them) just to get parts of their weapons. Which also means that capturing is useless once you get enough Plasma stuff (because you can't sell it for some reason either).

As far as the panic meter goes - they'll leave the Counsel at the end of the month if they're at 5 bars. So you have until then to do something about reducing it (either launching a Satellite if they don't have one up, getting lucky and having a mission there, or 'other means' (spoilers)).

Screenshots? Steam's screenshot function (F12).

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"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

haven't had much time to play, but so far Sgt Al Tiberius Boonswoggle (aka Cole Train) is leading the kill board with 11 kills, with Cpl. Hark Onis and Cpl. Ka To tied at 3. Sq. Soul Childe is new with 0 kills, but he just had his first mission.

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Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

Hmm hit F12 and got the screenshot taken pop up but can't find it in my Profile on Steam, oh well I'll take a closer look at it later.

Second mission was a cluster. Alien Abduction in South Africa which netted me 4 Scientists but bad luck cost me both Ralph Wiggum who at least got one kill before getting sniped from a rooftop and Hotfreak on his first mission got hit with a lucky shot that crit'ed him and of course he had the only medkit. 3 turns before bleeding out was not enough time for me to track down the remaining aliens. RIP Ralph Wiggum and Hotfreak, you will be avenged. Blackjack continues to lead the team in kills with 6 but is now incapacitated for the next 9 days and only survived by tossing a grenade at the right time. Lockdown got a kill but not enough to promote him, need squad sight asap to make best use.

Just raided the biggest damn UFO I've ever seen. No losses but every squad member is injured and out for half a month. My engineers will have to build a couple SHIV's to fill out the backup team.

Okay, you seriously need the Barracks upgrade of, "Healing is now twice as fast" or something. Also, the Foundry? Very, very important.

I was in a weird point of XCOM for a while - I had nothing I could research because I didn't have Weapon Shards. Yes, that's right - I needed to kill more aliens (instead of capturing them) just to get parts of their weapons. Which also means that capturing is useless once you get enough Plasma stuff (because you can't sell it for some reason either).

As far as the panic meter goes - they'll leave the Counsel at the end of the month if they're at 5 bars. So you have until then to do something about reducing it (either launching a Satellite if they don't have one up, getting lucky and having a mission there, or 'other means' (spoilers)).

Screenshots? Steam's screenshot function (F12).

Foundry and the Officer upgrades are a priority from now on. I'm just having a hard time managing the cash flow so it seems i'm always behind. Good point about capturing, I'm losing too many rooks and squaddies trying to capture.

As far as the panic meter goes - they'll leave the Counsel at the end of the month if they're at 5 bars. So you have until then to do something about reducing it (either launching a Satellite if they don't have one up, getting lucky and having a mission there, or 'other means' (spoilers))

Not necessarily true. I had three countries in the red at my last Council meeting (where I was awarded a solid D for effort, thank you very much. I'm pretty damn far into the game now (started to use plasma rifles) and still only have three casualties, and this is how they thank me? Bastards! ) but "only" two of them actually resigned. The third country was the United Kingdom. Since my base is in Europe, there may be some connection there. I don't know.